Deliquesce
Chapter 12: Electric
Rated: T
Warnings: Violence
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue
A/N: Hey yall. Another update while I'm at it. I've almost finished writing the whole thing, and I plan on doing a sequel. ALSO. Kinda important notice? This fiction will be moving up to an M rating in a few chapters. Nothing explicit, and not just for 'romantic' reasons, so be warned.
SecretReading: Maybe... ;D
The next day was the same. Woke up, showered, changed, waited until Wonka showed up, and went to the experiment room.
I followed closely behind him. As much as I could anyway, with my crutches.
I thought it was strange, how I struck him as the type of person to 'not over-react' to what he was doing. What did that even mean? Was that some sort of roundabout way to say that I look like I don't have morals or something? Either way, I didn't mind. As much as I would like to say I disapproved, there was something exciting about it. Not sure if that excitement could be attributed to seeing the things that had taken over the world, vulnerable and strapped to a metal slab. Finally seeing them up close, without the 98% chance of dying. On the other hand, it could very well be attributed to simply being around Wonka.
There was something kinda.. electrifying about being around him.
"Gosh darn it! I don't have any replacement restraints.." He frowned to himself, but found a piece of rope and tied it around the zombie's leg.
"Alrighty. Shall we begin?" He passed me over the clipboard and pen.
"Are you going to tell me what it's for? You said you would." I replied.
"Huh. You're right! I did in fact say that I would tell you, and I did in fact tell you that the day before today. However, when I told ya that the day before today I wasn't intending on telling you the next day, which is today."
"...what?"
"All in good time!"
"Whatevs ghee. Let's start." I shrugged and took the clipboard and pen from him.
He pulled on the gloves, and starting spouting the same scientific crap as he did last time, something about subject and compound. He shone the light in an eye.
"Hm. The eyes are clearer today. Pupils show signs of reactivity to light."
"What does that mean?"
"This one was around a month old. After a two to four weeks, they become more or less blind. Their pupils don't react to light at that stage. This one still seems to be blind, but the pupils are reactive to light again. Interesting."
"Oh. Wow." What he was working on sounded almost like... a cure. Shit.
He went over to the monitor, looked at it, and got another test tube and syringe. "Brain activity remains the same." He injected the formula into its brain again. "Administering compound number 5 to medulla oblongata."
The beeping went up slightly, then back to normal.
"Minimal effect, activity raised slightly before decreasing to standard rate."
The infected lay there completely still and silent.
"Patient unresponsive, compound ineffective paired with number 8." Wonka said after a while, and walked towards me. He got the clipboard, and wrote down some of his own notes again. He seemed disappointed.
"So that didn't work?" I asked.
"Nope." He said.
I waited for a while as he took down his notes, and the beeping suddenly became loud and fast.
Wonka spun around to look at the infected, who was struggling against the restraints. He passed the clipboard to me again.
"Delayed activity from compound number 10. Elevated brain activity. 780. 781. 781.790."
One of the hand restraints suddenly snapped loose, and it clawed at Wonka who held down the leg.
"Aggressive response to compound 10." He shouted, trying to dodge the clawing. The other hand broke free and it sat up. Wonka ducked down behind the slab. "Possible increase in strength. 810. 823. 826."
I dropped the clipboard, and scrambled for my crutches. "Fucking hell, it's going to break loose! Watch out!"
The last one finally broke lose, and it rolled off the table with a dull, wet thud. Wonka jumped up, and quickly moved around to the other side of the table. It screeched. I got hold of my crutches, but as soon as I tried to move they fell out from under me and I crawled instead. The infected had Wonka on the ground, but he held its face back.
"You're useless, holy shit." I yelled over the commotion, crawled up behind it and punched it in the brain. It shrieked again, and turned to me. I gave it a kick with my good foot to keep it back, and attempted to kick it again in the face but it grabbed my leg. Holy shit. It actually grabbed my leg to stop me from kicking it. These things didn't do that. This wasn't normal.
I twisted around, and broke loose before hurling another kick into its throat. It lunged onto me, and tried to snap at my face but I blocked it with my cast. It was strong though. Stronger than usual. Stronger than me. If I let go for one moment, I would be dead. It tried to take a bite at my shoulder, at my arm. I was pinned beneath it, unable to move with my ankle. Wonka had gotten up and was hurrying over to the other side of the room. Holy shit, was he actually running away? I screamed, trying to claw at the exposed brain but it kept trying to bite my arm. The other arm I was holding it back with felt like it was about to cramp. Oh god. Oh god. Why isn't he doing anything. I'm going to die. Why isn't he doing anything.
This is it.
There was a loud bang, and it fell limply on top of me, congealed black blood spilling onto my chest. Wonka grabbed it off of me, and flung it to the side before helping me up.
I was out of breath. My heart was beating fast. So fast. All I could do was try to breathe. In, out, in, out.
"Are you okay?" He grabbed my shoulders.
I couldn't find the words to speak. I just needed to breathe.
"Ember." He shook me a little. I looked up at him, eyes wide. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
I shook my head. "I'm fine." I mumbled, frozen. Stunned. My eyes were locked with his.
I was still breathless, but now it was a different kind. His hands remained on my shoulders, his eyes remained on mine. It was electrifying. The adrenaline was still coursing through my veins. The length of the silence was enough to make someone feel uncomfortable, but after almost dying that wasn't my concern.
"Thanks." I breathed. It was one of those moments. You know, the one in films where the two characters stare at each other like they're about to either kiss or drop each others pants. Instead, he dropped his hands off my shoulders.
"You're welcome." With that, the spell was broken. I stepped back a bit, embarrassed, scrambling for something in my scrambled thoughts to say.
"Uhm. So. What happens now?"
"Huh?" His eyebrows raised.
"With the experiment."
"For one, I have to start from square one. Two, attempt to replicate the compound used yesterday, which I stupidly didn't think to do at the time."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Oh well! How 'bout you go clean yerself up now, you have brain matter all over your chest."
"Yeah."
